Jack-
When I got this set of PCBs back from the fab, I found every excuse for the first three days to not start. I honestly was terrified at soldering the TPS61202.
I always hand-assemble my boards, though I have used a hot-plate before.
But I ended up using an Aoyue hot-air rework station and solder paste to handle just the TPS61202, then I hand-assembled the rest of the board.
It worked the first time even. Ok, the boost converter did. I got the wrong LDO and had to swap it, but otherwise the board was fine - especially for "Revision A".
I probably should add that the guys in the UK and Australia doing HAB work have been using boost converters for some time (see New boards pAVA Rev6 | Ava High Altitude Balloon Project) so I got a lot of help from them (thanks M0UPU and VK5QI!)
I hope this helps,
Brad
KF7FER
PS I have to double-check the test data but I believe we are at 22hrs and counting (battery voltage is still at 2.59v). Those "ultimate lithium" batteries are expensive but when compared to generic "big-box" store batteries they run much longer (I got 7hrs off of 2xAA "Kirkland" batteries) and weigh almost 1/2 as much (15g vs 25g).